Law Reporter

The 32-year-old woman suffered from a schizo-effective disorder, a learning disability and was profoundly deaf. During a family holiday to Bangladesh the woman was married and the couple lived together in London for 4 years. The husband subsequently petitioned for divorce citing the woman's unreasonable behaviour.

Following an allegation that the woman had been assaulted by her mother she was removed from the family home and placed on a specialist psychiatric ward for the hearing impaired. Emergency steps were taken to deprive her of her liberty under Sch A1 to the 2005 Act. The woman was then moved to a residential placement and arrangements were made for her to have contact with her family.

It was common ground that the woman lacked capacity to litigate, to make decisions about her life including where she would live, who she would have contact with, who would provide her care. She furthermore lacked capacity at the time of her marriage and it was in her best interests to annul the marriage and make a forced marriage protection order.